Monday, June 30, 2014

Harvest Monday, 30 June 2014

My fruit continues to dribble in. This is the first year for the currents. I'm not so sure I'm in love with them. The taste is fine, but the seeds are hard to just eat. Raspberry seeds are annoying too, but not nearly as bad. I've learned to chew them without putting my teeth together so they don't get stuck. But current seeds are huge in comparison. Way too big for me to want to eat them with pleasure. So I think I'm going to collect and freeze them and deseed them all at once. What about the rest of you. Do you eat currents out of hand or do you seed your currents?

The vegetable harvests have been nice and varied this week. No huge piles of one thing that I need to deal with thank goodness. I pick peas every few days and give half of them to my townhouse mates. I tried freezing them again last year, but didn't like them frozen. So I'll just share. That way we can all enjoy them to their fullest. Frozen snap peas taste good, but I've never been able to get the texture to something that I want to eat. I suppose I could puree them for soups or something, but it isn't worth the bother when they are so good fresh.

I picked my first ever fennel. I like it well enough. It may end up being one of those things I fall in love with over time. Like snap peas and broccoli. Or it may be one of those things I enjoy occasionally, like kohlrabi. Time will tell.

And speaking of kohlrabi. I picked the last one this week. They keep pretty well in the fridge, but I suspect they will all be gone in a couple of weeks. They make really good finger food. And the first of the favas are in. I don't think I'll have anywhere near the harvest of last year. But hopefully it will be decent.

And the first broccoli was picked yesterday. It was 18oz, so just over a pound. I ate half last night for dinner and half tonight. I'm neglecting the other veggies in favor of it. The first broccoli is always such a treat.

And this was the week I went over 100 pounds. Whoohoo! I checked how I was doing compared to previous years. I'm just a touch down from last year and just a touch up from 2011. 2012 wasn't really comparable because of the unheard of lack of winter that year and unfrozen soil in February (really in decades gardening around here, I've never had my soil unfrozen then). So I seem to be doing pretty much normally. Except for the late spring start this year I've been very happy with all the vegetables I've been pulling out of the garden. The fruit is another matter. I need to rotate the strawberries more. But I really don't have a great way of doing it. I'll see how they do next year, but I might have to give up a vegetable bed if I want to keep producing them. Then I could rotate. And I've fixed the raspberry watering problem, but it will take some time for them to recover.

Alliums: 0.36 lbs

Beans: 2.69 lbs

Broccoli: 1.13 lbs

Carrots: 0.95 lbs

Greens: 4.07 lbs

Asian Greens: 2.63 lbs

Herbs: 1.60 lbs

Peas: 2.14 lbs

Roots: 0.58 lbs

Weekly Total: 16.13 lbs

Yearly Total: 104.88 lbs

Yearly Tally: $-149.29

Fruit

Currents: 0.05 lbs

Raspberries: 0.09 lbs

Weekly total: .14 lbs

Yearly total: 3.26 lbs

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

I'm no fan of raspberry seeds either, though I think the red ones are less troublesome than the black one.s I've not gotten enough currants to really know how to eat them. I took the small harvest from this year (about 1/2 cup) and mixed them with some rhubarb for a crisp/crumble. They paired well with the rhubarb, but I have no idea what they will be like on their own.

I've not had a lot of luck growing the bulbing fennel in spring, but I do love it. It is tasty when grilled or roasted.

Great harvest. Especially impressed with the broccoli head. We are not allowed to grow currants here. As you probably know, they are an alternate host for white pine blister rust, so they are prohibited.

Your harvests are wonderful. Mine are nowhere near as varied and I am in the middle of a lettuce glut at the moment. I need another fridge.... I've never eaten a current but they do look beautiful. I had no idea currents had seeds. How do they taste otherwise? And I completely agree with you on freezing snap peas - I did the same thing last year and found the texture to be severely lacking.

Great harvest! I have never ate a currant. Are they sweet? I do not think my broccoli is going to do anything this year. It is big, but is not making any heads. Not sure what is up w/ that! I am envious of your broccoli LOL

Beautiful harvest, as always! I tried to grow fennel here but the bulb would not develop; but the fronds were nice enough to have - I am a huge fan of fennel anything. I've never had a fresh currant, don't know about the seeds.

I’ve never tried currants, but I don’t think that I would care for the seeds either. We have wild blackberry bushes and the one berry I did try this year was quite seedy. The blackberries took a beating this winter so we aren’t going to get many.

Your red currants are a little ahead of mine. I'm not a huge fan of eating fresh currants though they're nice sprinkled on top of a fresh fruit tart along with other fruit - adding a bit of tartness to balance out the other sweeter fruit. I usually make jellies/jams with them or make a flavored syrup to add to seltzer water.

I've never eaten a currant, but they do look awfully pretty in that picture. Those raspberries do too. This year our only fruit will be the wild blackberries. Hopefully next year I can get some berries and other fruit trees planted. Your broccoli looks perfect and delicious!

Wonderful harvest! I love currants, especially in a jam but I'm happy to eat them fresh :) ours are very tiny this year so not even counting as harvest. that broccoli and carrots look fantastic, and raspberry and greens look very lovely too.

You really did have a nice assortment of veggies this week. That head of broccoli is impressive. It's funny how fennel grows on you. My husband was not very fond of it to begin with, but I keep serving it to him and now he loves it, especially when it's thinly shaved and served raw.

Your varied harvest is just what I strive for. I'm not a fan of frozen veg (with one or two exceptions) so it doesn't make sense to have any gluts. You are always writing about giving stuff to your townhouse mates - what do they give you in return?

Companionship? lol I never ask for anything. One of my neighbors thinks I'm crazy and should sell my excess, but I really don't need the money. And I love to grow it but hate when I have to toss it on the compost pile.

I grew red currants when we lived in Michigan. I didn't care for them much but made currant jelly once. My raspberries are not ready yet so you are ahead of me there. If kohlrabi is a finger food, what flavor does it have? Beautiful carrots and head of broccoli! Nancy

It has a very very mild cabbagy flavor. Mostly it is crunchy and wet which I like. So it is the texture I love most. I do hate the smell though even if I like the taste. Not sure why, but some in the cabbage family don't smell all that good to me.

Another really nice harvest Daphne. I had the same question as you just answered for Cozy Thyme cottage. I have never tried Kohlrabi so I was interested in your thought on it and how you use it. Thanks again for hosting. I am thrilled to have finally harvested something to share.

When I was a youngun my mother made current jelly, both red and black, enough to last the year. It was really good jelly nice and tart, and no seeds. I've baked fennel and sweet potatoes together. The flavors combine well.

I've mostly eaten currants in cakes (where the seeds have never bothered me that much) or as jelly. Which I'm planning to make for the first time this year, with the wild currants I found this weekend.

About Me

I've been gardening for almost three decades now, ever since my husband and I bought our first house. Every garden has been different. The first was small and the soil was almost pure sand. The second was larger and I had heavy clay. The third and current one which is just outside of Boston, is by far the largest even though the lot is by far the smallest. Since we bought the house new, we designed the landscaping ourselves, and the soil we added was fairly good. My challenge here is the location. We are so close to our neighbors that their houses can shade the garden.